Stoner, who was notching up Ducati's maiden MotoGP victory of the season, said: "It's been too long between wins, that's for sure.

"We started out pretty well this weekend, and we got on with the track. We progressed and got better. I was a little bit nervous this morning, but I'm really happy to bring it home. It was unexpected for us."

Pedrosa said: "Ducati were very strong, with both riders on the podium. I tried everything, I didn't start well but I recovered.

"But I was too far from Casey. We did many laps at the same pace but couldn't get him on corners. He did good."

Six-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi of Italy, who is struggling with a shoulder injury, came in sixth, more than 27 seconds off the pace, and sits fourth in the standings on 140 points.

Earlier, Andrea Iannone of the Speed Up team won the Moto2 race. The Italian finished ahead of Spain's Julian Simon (Suter) and Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi (Speed Up) for his third win of the season.

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